such example, climbing nearly 12% in the past 24 hours. On the other hand, altcoins VeChain and NEM struggled to maintain positive returns and moved in the opposite direction.

While Polkadot has had a shaky start to the month,  prices have spiked along with the market leader Bitcoin during the past three days. Overall, the crypto asset has been in an uptrend since early November, hitting higher highs and higher lows. Currently, DOT is leading the charts as the biggest gainer in the past seven days, rising by nearly 70% in this period. The biggest question is – will we see a correction anytime soon? The indicators on DOT suggest otherwise, hinting that prices could continue to scale past milestones in the near future.

The Relative Strength Index indicated bullishness as prices have been trading in the overbought zone for quite some time now. Usually, prices move downwards after trading in this region, but in this case, they could remain in this territory over the next few sessions as the buying pressure mounts up. If a reversal takes place and the index moves lower, prices could test support at $7.65.

The Awesome Oscillator also highlighted the said bullishness, as the green bars were rising in length, above the Zero line.

Like Polkadot, VeChain has also been in an uptrend since early November. However, the price seemed to have cooled off since meeting resistance at $0.02. At the time of writing, VET was trading at $0.018, down by over 3% in the past 24 hours. Certain indicators suggest that selling pressure could continue to drive prices lower in the short term.

The MACD witnessed a bearish crossover, a sign that prices could fall in the coming future as the bears assert their dominance in the market. In case VET does fall, support at $0.0138 could provide some relief to prices.

The Chaikin Money Flow suggested that capital outflows were one of the factors responsible for the price drop, with the index moving downwards along with the prices.

NEM has been under severe selling pressure over the past 24 hours. During this time period, prices have dropped by nearly 15%, making NEM the biggest daily loser among the top 20 coins by market cap. After trying to breach resistance at $0.236, prices have steadily moved lower, towards the support at $0.169. In the near term, prices could continue moving lower and challenge support at $0.169. A sharper fall could see NEM head towards support at $0.141.

The On Balance Volume suggested that there has been a lack of interest in the NEM market as volumes dropped throughout mid-December.

The Parabolic SAR’s dotted markers were above the candlesticks, an indication that prices were bearish.

Cardano Price Analysis: 31 December

Here’s what Ethereum has that Bitcoin doesn’t

A business graduate with a keen interest in emerging markets across South East Asia. As a financial journalist, he covered stocks and market reports across Australia and New Zealand as well.

Bitcoin SV, NEM, Decred Price Analysis: 04 January

Tron, VeChain, Cosmos Price Analysis: 03 January

Polkadot Price Analysis: 02 January

Litecoin, VeChain, Algorand Price Analysis: 02 January

XRP, Decred, Polkadot Price Analysis: 30 December

Cardano, Tron, VeChain Price Analysis: 29 December

VeChain turned neutral from bullish as some selling pressure started to creep into the market. Cardano too seemed to lose bullish momentum as it faced rejection at a key level of resistance on the charts.

Cardano [ADA]

Over the past 24-hours, Cardano (ADA) had mostly maintained its prices above the 50% retracement level, as marked by the Fibonacci retracement tool.

But, at press time, ADA was registering a drop below the $0.109-level of resistance due to underlying selling pressure. Further, the dotted markers of the Parabolic SAR were above the price candles and hinted at a downtrend.

Even though a downtrend seemed to be visible from observing the technical indicators, the price could also be seen experiencing a pullback just above the 50% retracement region or the $0.106-mark.

NEM [XEM]

NEM continued to be under selling pressure, while maintaining an overall downtrend. The digital asset lost control of a key resistance level, one that resulted in a 3.5% loss over the last 24-hours.

On the other hand, the convoluted MACD lines remained neutral, although hints of a bullish crossover were starting to emerge.

The Relative Strength Index for NEM was still indicative of selling pressure, but a pattern of higher lows in the upcoming week could confirm the possibility of a trend reversal from bearish to bullish.

However, for the immediate trading sessions, NEM’s market shall continue to be under selling pressure with strong support zones existing at the $0.105-level.

VeChain [VET]

At the time of writing, it seemed like VeChain’s bulls may have entered a period of calm, with the prices noting horizontal movement over the last 48 hours.

The Aroon Indicator, only slightly bullish, might soon confirm a neutral position as the prices seem to also stabilize just above the $0.0119-level of support.

In fact, an immediate price action in either direction may take a few more trading sessions due to unchanged volatility levels, as observed by the Bollinger Bands.

A price oscillation along the median band and between the immediate support and resistance levels may continue throughout the weekend.

Why is this decoupling a great sign for Bitcoin in the coming days?

Bitcoin as a transactional currency in 5 years? Unlikely, says Galaxy Digital CEO

A graduate in Economics and International Development, Shubham enjoys researching on economic reform process, with a special focus on China.His interests lie in FinTech & blockchain technology developments across East and S.E Asia.

Ethereum, NEM, FTX Token Price Analysis: 07 December

Why aren’t Bitcoin, Ethereum as leveraged as Sushi, VeChain?

Bitcoin SV, NEM, Compound Price Analysis: 05 December

Chainlink, Dash, VeChain Price Analysis: 02 December

Cardano short-term Price Analysis: 02 December

Cardano, Tron, Dogecoin Price Analysis: 01 December

intuitive interface. The app is perfect for both pro NEM enthusiasts and crypto beginners. Enhanced securityThe NEM Wallet by Freewallet is a free XEM app, offering high-grade security for your account. Your money will be safe even if you lose your phone. Just block the account and retrieve access from another device. Security features include: Fingerprint Login. 2-factor authentication. PIN code lock. Email confirmation for each transaction. Daily and weekly transaction limits. Most assets are stored in cold storage, protecting them from bad actors, and guaranteeing that no money will be stolen or lost. Exchange functionsUsers can top-up their NEM wallet with any cryptocurrency and it will be automatically converted into XEM. Receive and send XEM to almost any altcoin address and make 100% free transactions within the Freewallet eco-system. We have integrated a crypto exchange right in the app, so you can easily convert your XEM to almost any other coin. To make your crypto life a bit easier, the XEM wallet app features real-time price charts to help you keep track of your balance in fiat currencies. Easy and comfortable to useThe NEM Wallet has a simple and intuitive interface. Log in with your email, Facebook, Google or mobile phone number and share your wallet address on Twitter, Facebook, email, etc. Caring supportOur support team is ready to help you 24/7 with any questions you may have. The wallet is available in 13 languages featuring German, French, Spanish, Chinese, and Russian. About FreewalletFreewallet has been a key player in the cryptocurrency community since 2016. It supports more than 100+ cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Monero, and Bytecoin. NewsBTC listed Freewallet as the third most popular wallet for Android in 2018. About NEMNew Economy Movement aka NEM is a cryptocurrency written on Java and JavaScript and using a Proof of Importance algorithm. The NEM blockchain software features an open blockchain network – the Mijin, which is being tested by financial institutions and private companies in Japan. The app is available for Android 6.0 and greater

handled by Coincheck, the coin with the highest price increase in 2020 was NEM (XEM). The second-highest price increase was Ethereum (ETH), followed by Bitcoin (BTC). In February 2021, NEM is scheduled to launch its Symbol (XYM) blockchain, a major update that includes speed and security enhancements; expectations for its launch is one of the factors behind the rise in NEM.

Accounts

Account opening recorded max increases in November and max trading in December The number of registered users, and the number of active accounts, reached the highest in November, when the U.S. presidential election took place. Furthermore, in December, when the bitcoin price was approaching 3 million yen, the number of transactions and transaction volume reached the highest in 2020.

Coincheck Offices

At Coincheck sales offices in 2020, the use of office workers increased significantly compared to 2019, and the number of transactions increased 2.3 times compared to 2019. In addition, daytime transactions (12:00-18:00) increased from 30.9% in 2019 to 49.6% in 2020.

bearish divergence, NEM was trading under a strong level of resistance after recovering with strength over the past few days. Finally, VeChain broke out of a descending channel and it could see a minor pullback on the charts.

XMR rose past its level of resistance at $127.4, but it was unable to hold on to the level as a support level.

Monero was playing out a bearish divergence between the price and the momentum indicator (RSI) and it could post note more losses in the coming hours.

The Fibonacci retracement levels for the move from the swing low at $110.09 to $129.72 showed that XMR could retrace to its 38.2% or 50% levels before continuing its uptrend.

An uptrend remained in play, however, as the price formed a series of higher lows after breaking out from the descending channel.

XEM dropped under an ascending channel to test the support at $0.115, before the market bulls seized the initiative and drove prices all the way back up to $0.135.

At the time of writing, XEM looked set to see a minor dip to $0.13. The MACD line and the Signal line were well apart and suggested that a small correction was due.

XEM does not have significant resistance above the $0.137-level till $0.154, so a close above $0.137 followed by flipping resistance to support would suggest strong bullishness.

VeChain broke out of its month-long descending channel a few days ago accompanied by good trading volume. The projected target for the breakout would have been the base of the channel at $0.134, and VET rose past the level and then saw a pullback.

The Stochastic RSI was moving lower from an overbought reading and could see VET dip further. $0.13 has been a liquidity pocket for VET, hence, it is possible the price would witness a pullback to this area.

It was not clear whether VET would continue its recovery and rise past the $0.139-resistance level, or whether it would have to trade within a range over the next few days.

A trading session close below $0.123 would indicate that bulls were exhausted and bears had the upper hand.

Bitcoin has reached its ‘escape velocity,’ claims Pantera Capital exec

South Africa’s FSCA issues draft declaration on crypto-assets

Having studied Chemical Engineering, Akashnath's focus is on the UK and Indian markets and especially crypto assets. He is devoted to technical analysis and is always on the lookout for investment opportunities.

Binance Coin, Monero, Dogecoin Price Analysis: 08 December

Ethereum, NEM, FTX Token Price Analysis: 07 December

Why aren’t Bitcoin, Ethereum as leveraged as Sushi, VeChain?

Monero, BAT, Verge Price Analysis: 06 December

Bitcoin SV, NEM, Compound Price Analysis: 05 December

Chainlink, Dash, VeChain Price Analysis: 02 December

and analyzing blockchain data. The solution—which was built by NEM partner IoDLT—leverages the native MongoDB integration that allows users to easily store data on the Tardigrade decentralized cloud storage service. IoDLT specializes in creating an affordable internet of things (IoT) solution that leverages the power of the NEM blockchain. IoDLT operates a Symbol node and the team noticed that as blocks are added, which increases the amount of data on the blockchain, it becomes increasingly difficult to sync a full node in a reasonable amount of time. To solve this problem, IoDLT configured MongoDB snapshots to be sent to Tardigrade, making it much faster to quickly rehydrate Symbol’s API state to any location across the globe, improving accessibility. “By using Tardigrade to store and distribute the MongoDB snapshots needed to set up a Symbol node, the process is reduced from 44 minutes to 2-3 minutes, an almost 1,500% improvement,” said Bader Youssef, IoDLT Chief Technology Officer. “Our team is proud of the Tardigrade integration we built and we’re looking forward to seeing how NEM community members and users take advantage of these new benefits from Tardigrade.” NEM’s Symbol is a distributed ledger technology (DLT) built by NEM developers that is designed to deliver high throughput, accelerating sync times for new nodes, data analysis, and reducing costs for node operators. Symbol extracts NEM blockchain data into a MongoDB instance, which greatly improves accessibility. By pushing these MongoDB snapshots to Tardigrade—Storj Labs’ decentralized cloud storage service—NEM can make the data even more accessible by leveraging the service’s decentralized architecture. Tardigrade’s decentralized architecture makes it a great place to store large datasets that are downloaded from many different locations, such as blockchain data. With nearly 9,000 nodes located around the world, Tardigrade has a very wide distribution, making downloads fast even from remote locations. The platform has been designed to easily integrate with an array of open source software partners including MongoDB. “To drive wide adoption of blockchains, we need to greatly accelerate their speed and scalability and our team has made this a top priority for NEM,” said Dave Hodgson, Chief Investment Officer at NEM Group. “We’re excited about this community-led integration with Tardigrade by IODLT, as it supports the ecosystem’s performance goals, while also adding to our decentralized infrastructure. By leveraging new technologies, approaches, and working together with robust projects like Storj to solve some of the biggest challenges in the blockchain industry, we will help drive broader adoption.” Every file uploaded to Tardigrade is end-to-end encrypted by design, erasure-coded for redundancy, and stored across 80 uncorrelated end-points. A file can be rebuilt by downloading any 30 of its 80 parts. This delivers cross-geography redundancy for every file at no additional cost. The platform’s decentralized architecture also means that end-points have a greater geographic distribution, making it much faster to download from anywhere in the world. “It’s great to see some of the biggest leaders in the blockchain industry adopt Tardigrade to accelerate performance of their platforms and services,” said Shawn Wilkinson, Storj Labs Cofounder, and Chief Strategy Officer. “NEM’s Symbol platform has the potential to drive adoption of blockchain technologies across the enterprise, government, and consumer spaces, and we’re proud to have Tardigrade be a part of this solution. To drive wide adoption of decentralized cloud storage, Tardigrade delivers performance on par with centralized cloud storage providers, while lowering costs by approximately half. The platform is also easy to start using, with a wide array of bindings for common coding languages and integrations with popular open source software tools, meaning migrating to Tardigrade is often as easy as entering user credentials or changing a line or two of code.

holders of a token will receive the new token based on their holdings. There are some similar steps in each airdrop that include opt-in, snapshot, and the final airdrop.

Symbol is a new blockchain by NEM Group focused on enterprises. It tries to solve the business-level challenges with the help of DLT and other similar technologies. Speed, scalability, security, and flexibility are the claimed features of the new blockchain by NEM.

Like all of the other blockchain projects, Symbol has a primary token, too. XYM is the main token in Symbol and will be distributed to XEM holders in an airdrop process. The steps required for receiving the new XYM is similar to other airdrops and mainly includes holding XEM in a supporting wallet or exchange.

Airdrop is a very famous process of promoting a new cryptocurrency. New blockchain projects often use this technique to introduce themselves and their new tokens by distributing them to some users. Airdrop is usually free, and the new token is distributed to any member that holds a minimum amount of the old token – in supporting wallets or exchanges. Some airdrops require some action from users, like posting about the new blockchain project on social media.

The most important thing about legitimate airdrops is that most of them are free. Fair projects don’t require users to send Bitcoin or any cryptocurrency to receive the new token. They just have to hold their current tokens in a wallet or exchange. Nothing will happen to their current holdings.

Symbol is a new blockchain by NEM Group that tries to use blockchain technology to solve business challenges. It focuses on value exchange in a blockchain platform that smooths business frictions. The main goal of the new blockchain is connecting businesses, developers, and individuals. Symbol makes it easier to develop new blockchain-based business models and connect to other players of the industry.

The team behind Symbol blockchain focuses on its multiple features for developers and businesses. They claim the new platform has increased security. Besides, it will connect very easily to traditional platforms and also other blockchains. XYM is the primary cryptocurrency in Symbol platform. It’s the prominent tool to incentivize public nodes of Symbol blockchain.

NEM plans to run an airdrop to distribute some XYM tokens and promote the new blockchain project. The airdrop process covers XEM token holders and rewards them for keeping their digital assets during the process. They only need to hold a minimum amount of XEM in a wallet or exchange account to receive XYM tokens. The snapshot date is scheduled for January 14, 2020.

Every interested user who wants to receive XYM tokens should follow some steps, including holding XEM tokens in a supporting wallet or exchange. They have to confirm their intent to opt-in to receive the new XYM token. Nothing will happen to your XEM holding during the opt-in process, and all new XYM tokens will be distributed in the Symbol blockchain – not affecting the NEM NIS1 network.

There will be a snapshot process during opt-in that includes saving the balances of addresses in a block height. The snapshot shows how many XEM tokens you hold so that the airdrop process will distribute XYM based on that balance. For each 1 XEM token you hold during the snapshot step, you will receive 1 XYM token. The minimum amount of XEM to receive XYM is 100.

You have to keep your XEM in an NEM account and import the account to a Symbol wallet – desktop or mobile. Follow the steps below to opt-in for receiving XYM in your wallet.

You first have to have an NEM wallet and download its .wlt file. The next steps are:

1- Download the opt-in version of NEM wallet  – Download Link

2- Unzip the downloaded file and run the start.html file

3- Click Login (top menu)

4- Import your .wlt file

5- Sign-in to NEM account

6- Click Services, the under the Symbol Opt-in click on Claim XYM and Namespaces with a Symbol Opt-in

7- Create a Symbol account and download the wallet file

8- Select namespace and then add VRF keys to the account

9- Read and accept Terms & conditions. Then review the account details and enter the NEM password

10- Click the Confirm Opt-in button

There are Android and iOS wallets for NEM that both support the Opt-in process. Follow the steps below to Opt-in with each of them (Steps are the same for both versions).

2- Create a new Symbol wallet and backup the wallet via Mnemonics or QR code

3- Tap on Select XEM account and import NEM account via private key or QR code

4- Click on the imported NEM account. After choosing the namespaces, you want to include, add VRF keys to harvest block rewards.

5- Review details and click the complete Opt-in button

There are two groups of cryptocurrency exchanges that support the XYM airdrop. Some of them support the Opt-in and also will list the XYM token. The list includes:

Some other exchanges only support the Opt-in and haven’t stated their support for the listing yet. They are:

NEM stands for New Economy Movement and is a blockchain project focused on efficiency and speed of transactions. NEM, launched in March 2015, is a fork-out version of NXT. After some development from NEM Foundation, the NEM blockchain became utterly different from NXT and is now an entirely separate blockchain. XEM is the native cryptocurrency of NEM. The new Symbol blockchain will be added to multiple projects from NEM Group and the community.

Airdrops are critical in promoting new cryptocurrency. The new Symbol blockchain and its native token XYM can indeed leverage the NEM community’s power by airdropping. The Opt-in process is very easy for current users and has resulted in a significant rise in interest in the XEM.

Airdropping XYM helps the Symbol blockchain to find its initial user-base. Besides, they can easily encourage users to participate in the newly launched blockchain. 

Ripple Labs was sued earlier this week by Tetragon Financial Group, the investment firm that spearheaded its Series-C funding round, on the grounds that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission now views XRP as a security.

Both Polkadot (DOT) and ADA have already managed to surpass XRP, according to Messari, which has only counted the cryptocurrency's liquid market cap.

If Cardano indeed manages to flip XRP on CoinMarketCap, this would be the first time since July 2014 that XRP would no longer be among the five biggest cryptocurrencies. Back then, dead coins such as Nxt (NXR) and Peercoin (PPC) sat above it, while Omni (OMNI) and Blackcoin (BLK) — two other dinosaur cryptocurrencies you've probably never heard of — were in the top 10. After weeks of back and forth, Litecoin has now raced ahead of XRP, with its market cap now coming close to $10.8 billion.

Cardano is certainly far from being the only altcoin making insane moves right now.

At one point, Stellar (XLM), XRP's largest rival created by Ripple co-founder Jed McCaleb, was up over 120 percent at some point today. Chainlink (LINK), EOS (EOS) and NEM (XEM) have also recorded double-digit gains. Meanwhile, Bitcoin has pared some of its earlier gains, currently trading at about $34,400.

advantage of Bitcoin’s recent jumps because his trading is depending on other currencies, he told Iqtissad.

“My ‘capital’ is very modest and I can’t buy Bitcoin, which has a high value compared to other cryptocurrencies,” he said.

Taha uses his mobile phone to register with platforms and websites specialized in trading virtual currencies such as Ethereum, OX, Tether, and NEM, and keeps a close watch on their market movement in order to secure some profits.

Mohamed Halawa, 35, another displaced Syrian and a computer sciences graduate, has also followed training courses to enter the cryptocurrency market in the last rebel-held stronghold in Idleb region.

Halawa told Iqtissad that dealing in cryptocurrencies has become very easy “as we rely on well-known platforms to buy and sell through.”

Halawa adds that there is no specific capital requirement to enter the trading market but it is better to have at least 100 dollars to collect a good profits.

Halawa also explains that the process of buying and selling is not arbitrary but by following the methods of cryptocurrency analysis, and using classical and technical analysis of each currency,   indicators for up and down movement can be determined.

be able to bounce off the $580-support and attempt to go past $620. NEM and FTX Token were also on a strong uptrend over the past month, before their movements were stalled over the past week.

The level at $580 is a level that bulls would seek to hold on to in an attempt to force the price back above $620 in the coming days.

The price has been trading sideways in the $580-$600 range over the past few days, but this price action backed by low trading volume was indicative of gathering momentum and a likely surge upwards.

A close above $620 would be great news for the market’s bulls, while a close below $580 can see $550 retested as a support level.

The RSI underlined neutral momentum and a non-existent trend over the 4-hour timeframe.

NEM was on a steady uptrend and the Awesome Oscillator was also in bullish territory. However, it showed that bullish momentum was waning and the price could see a pullback to retest the trendline support.

A level of resistance for XEM lay at $0.252. A support level at $0.2 could emerge if the trendline does not hold on to the support level it had at press time.

FTT possessed a strong uptrend throughout November, but that appeared to have stalled after reaching a local high at $4.67. While the long-term outlook was still quite bullish, over the past week, the short-term momentum of the exchange token had lost steam.

As highlighted by the MACD, the momentum was neutral while the OBV showed a slight increase in buying volume, even as the price declined by 5% from $4.67 in a series of lower highs.

The trading volume was also observed to be trending downwards over the past week.

Bitcoin: Why the short-term bearish trend may already be here

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether get mentions on season premiere of ‘Shameless’

Having studied Chemical Engineering, Akashnath's focus is on the UK and Indian markets and especially crypto assets. He is devoted to technical analysis and is always on the lookout for investment opportunities.

Tezos, FTX Token, Crypto.com Coin Price Analysis: 9 December

Is DeFi eating Wall Street?

Ethereum long-term Price Analysis: 08 December

Bitcoin SV, NEM, Compound Price Analysis: 05 December

Miners unconvinced as Ethereum devs look to move EIP-1559 to mainnet

Ethereum short-term Price Analysis: 02 December

following impressive double-digit gains from Ripple, Chainlink, Cardano, Stellar, and more.

It’s safe to say that BTC entered the new year with a bang. Apart from a brief slide beneath $28,000 in which the cryptocurrency filled a gap left opened on CME, bitcoin has been on a roll, tearing down record after record.

In the past 24 hours, the asset continued upwards and broke into uncharted territory once more. After enduring high volatility that drove it below $34,000, BTC initiated an impressive leg up that resulted in the latest all-time high – above $37,800.

Despite retracing slightly since then, bitcoin still trades north of $37,000.

Data from Santiment indicated that BTC’s surge to new highs had changed people’s opinion who are now “pumping the buy narrative,” while just yesterday, the number of “sell calls” dominated the social circles.

CryptoPotato reported yesterday yet another massive milestone reached by all cryptocurrency assets – the market capitalization breaking above $1 trillion for the first time.

This became possible as multiple altcoins mimicked BTC’s impressive performance as of late with notable gains. On a 24-hour scale, Ethereum has jumped by 7% to $1,120, Binance Coin (6%) to $44, Polkadot (2%) to $10, Litecoin (3.5%) to $168, and Bitcoin Cash (5.5%) to $450.

However, there’re even more remarkable gainers from the top ten, including the newest entrée – XLM.

Stellar has doubled-down on its recent bull run. XLM has surged by 60% since yesterday and 190% in a week to $0.36. This comes as the Foundation partnered with the Ukrainian government to develop a CBDC.

Ripple has surged by 30% to $0.30. Cardano’s 21% increase to $0.34 has helped ADA to overtake BCH in terms of market cap. Chainlink has added 16% and trades near $17.

More gains are evident from Matic Network (23%), Kyber Network (23%), Decentraland (23%), NEM (22%), Siacoin (22%), Augur (20%), Qtum (17%), and more.

The rising altcoins have reduced BTC’s dominance to 68.3% from yesterday’s high at 69.5%.

resistance and showed some bearishness on the charts in the near-term. VeChain had been making moderate gains over the past couple of days but was stopped in its tracks by stiff resistance and a subsequent wave of market-wide selling pressure could depress prices further.

Bitcoin Cash [BCH]

Bitcoin Cash dropped beneath its support level at $218 as BTC dived from $10,950 to $10,650. BCH looked likely to continue posting losses since the strong zone around $220 was lost as support. Hence, it is likely that BCH would test $200 in the next few days.

The Aroon Indicator has been showing mixed signals over the past few weeks, highlighting the lack of a definite trend. However, at the time of writing, the Aroon Down (blue) had crossed above the Aroon Up (orange) to indicate that a bearish move was imminent.

NEM [XEM]

The 20 SMA (white) had crossed beneath the 50 SMA (yellow) last week, highlighting the onset of bearish pressure. The 50 SMA acted as resistance against XEM’s recent surge, but the resistance from both the moving averages and the zone at $0.116 held strong.

The Parabolic SAR also gave a sell signal. If XEM were to close a trading session below $0.108, it would be an indication of likely lower lows in the coming days, with the next level of support at the $0.095 level.

VeChain [VET]

VeChain was making bullish strides towards its resistance at $0.0158, but was rejected at the level. The price action since has seen some indecision, with buyers trying to drive the price upwards, but being met by strong bearish sentiment. The OBV and the price both dived lower, at press time.

The Awesome Oscillator, having navigated upward over the past few days, lost its impetus and could cross over into bearish territory.

It is possible that VET will stop its plummet in the $0.0125-$0.013 region. A drop beneath that zone would likely take the price to the support at $0.011.

Challenging Ethereum? Non-ETH tokens are seizing the moment

‘Bitcoin’s too volatile for me!’ Fair enough, but does it actually hold water?

Having studied Chemical Engineering, Akashnath's focus is on the UK and Indian markets and especially crypto assets. He is devoted to technical analysis and is always on the lookout for investment opportunities.

Bitcoin Cash, Tron, Zcash Price Analysis: 08 December

Ethereum, NEM, FTX Token Price Analysis: 07 December

Why aren’t Bitcoin, Ethereum as leveraged as Sushi, VeChain?

Bitcoin Cash, IOTA, Enjin Price Analysis: 06 December

Bitcoin SV, NEM, Compound Price Analysis: 05 December

Bitcoin Cash, Ontology, Enjin Price Analysis: 05 December

side, Bitcoin dominated the field and received a ton of attention, driving up the price +$10k per BTC in just one month.  On the negative side, news from the SEC late in December caused XRP’s price to absolutely plummet.

With this month’s update, we wrap up three years of tracking this group of cryptos!  Bitcoin, XRP, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano, Litecoin, IOTA, NEM, Dash, and Stellar – some famous, some forgotten, some fading, some resurging – regardless of how we might feel about these cryptos today, these were some of the most popular, most talked about, and most promising coins on January 1st, 2018 (or at the very least the most valued by market cap).

Three years later: Bitcoin has been joined by Ethereum as one of only two cryptos to have at least broken even (Bitcoin handily, ETH just barely). And after nearly three years of waiting, BTC is now easily beating the returns of the S&P 500 over the same time period (much more on that below). 

Scroll down for the answer.

Lots of movement in December, mostly down, as altcoins struggled to keep up with Bitcoin. The one upward exception, NEM continued to surprise by gaining one place, up from #19 to #18.  As mentioned in last month’s update, this is possibly related to the 1:1 XEM/Symbol Airdrop that’s coming in February 2021.

Any other movement was downward this month: after battling Tether for third place for much of the second half of the year, XRP dropped one spot to #4.  Bitcoin Cash fell from #5 to #6, and after nearly clawing itself back into the Top Ten, Stellar came back to earth a bit in December, sliding from #11 to #15.  

The biggest drops were Dash (down six places to #31) and IOTA (down nine places to #37).

Top Ten dropouts since January 2018: After three years of the 2018 Top Ten experiment 40% of the cryptos that started in the Top Ten have dropped out.  NEM, Dash, IOTA, and Stellar have been replaced by Binance Coin, Tether, LINK, and most recently, DOT.  

Or, using a glass half-full lens: over the last three years, 60% of the 2018 Top Ten cryptocurrencies (BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH, ADA, LTC) have managed to maintain their relative position in the market. 

Interestingly, even with slightly different players, this is the same percentage (60%) of position holders as the 2019 Top Ten Portfolio. And the 2020 Top Ten Experiment group has performed only marginally better (70% remaining/30% dropout rate).  

Given the unpredictability and progress in the cryptocurrency space over the last three years, a 60% retention rate for the 2018 Top Ten is pretty remarkable.

Which held and which lost the most ground compared to its peers?  Thirty six months in, Bitcoin has been the most steady crypto, never losing its frontrunner status, always locked in the #1 position. 

IOTA has dropped the most in the last three years and its final 2020 ranking of #37 places it in danger of becoming the first 2018 Top Ten crypto to fall out of the Top Forty.  As a reminder, IOTA was ranked #7 three years ago. 

December  Winners – Bitcoin, increasing a massive +51% in one month.  Close behind, Litecoin quietly gained +44% despite limited buzz.

December Losers –  An extremely tough month for XRP which lost nearly two-thirds of its value, finishing the month down -63%.  XLM got knocked around as well, losing one-third of its value in December, finishing the month down -33%.

After three years, the table below will give you a good sense of the winners and losers over the first thirty six months of the 2018 Top Ten Experiment.

Bitcoin reigns supreme here as well, with the most monthly wins (10).  Cardano has the second most victories, racking up 6 monthly wins in three years. NEM has lost 8 months, the most out of the 2018 Top Ten group. And Bitcoin is unique as the only cryptocurrency that hasn’t lost a month yet since January 2018 (although it has come close a couple of times).

Just last month, it happened: for the first time in the nearly three years since the beginning of the 2018 Top Ten Experiment, I was happy to report that the $100 invested into Bitcoin on January 1st, 2018 was returning more than if invested in the US stock market as measured by the S&P 500.  

Because December 2020 was another strong month for BTC, the gap has significantly increased: since January 2018, the S&P is up +41%.  Bitcoin? +123%.  

Put another way: three years later, $100 into Bitcoin on January 1st, 2018 is worth $223 compared to $141 had it been redirected to the S&P on New Year’s Day, 2018.

This has NOT been an easy or straightforward road for Bitcoin.  At one point, a year into the Experiment, BTC was down -74% compared to an S&P return of 1.2% at the time.

At the three year point in the 2018 the only other crypto in the green: Ethereum is now +2% since January 2018.

A distant third, but apparently next in line to break even, is Litecoin, currently down -42%.  

The 2018 Top Ten portfolio as a whole? Still down -49% since January 2018.

Pop that Champaign, time for a celebration!  

Maybe not full scale ticker tape parade time just yet, but this marks the psychologically important “halfway back” point for the 2018 Top Ten Experiment and represents the highest overall return since April 2018.  Although not pretty, the direction is encouraging: check out the Monthly ROI table below for a bird’s eye view of the 2018 Top Ten ROI journey.

At the bottom are a couple of cryptos that have lost at least 90% of their value in three years: Dash is down -90% and IOTA has lost -91% over the life of the experiment. The initial $100 invested in IOTA three years ago is worth $8.21 today.

After gaining a massive $182B in November, the total crypto market cap added another $193B in December.  For the second month in a row this represents a higher level than when the 2018 Experiment started three years ago. Up +35% since January 2018, it is approaching the 41% return of the S&P over the same time period.

A big, big leap for BitDom this month, ending 2020 at 70.4%.  For context, this is just barely below the Experiment’s record level of 70.5% back in September 2019.  It will be interesting to see how much higher BTC dominance can go. Since the beginning of the experiment, the range of Bitcoin dominance has been quite wide: from the current 70% high to a low of 33% in the first month of the 2018 Experiment.

The 2018 Top Ten Portfolio gained about $78 bucks in December and finally arrived at the halfway back point.  If, after three years, I cashed out of all the cryptos today, the $1000 initial investment would return about $513, down -49% from January 2018.

For some perspective, here’s a look at the ROI over the life of the experiment, month by month, over the last three years:

Although the three year return of the 2018 Top Ten are abysmal, there are reasons I don’t stop believing we could eventually see green: the portfolio is trending in a positive direction, the -49% is a level that hasn’t been seen since April 2018, and the 2018 Top Ten Portfolio is a far cry from the absolute bottom (back in January 2019 when it was down -88%).  Whether or not BTC is going to single handedly have to drag the entire portfolio up without any real help from the alts remains to be seen…

So the 2018 Top Ten Crypto Portfolio is down -49%. After repeating the Top Ten Experiment > (and just recently, again for 2021!), how are the other Experiments holding up?  Let’s take a look:

So overall? Taking the three portfolios together, here’s the bottom bottom bottom line: 

After a $3000 investment in the 2018, 2019, and 2020 Top Ten Cryptocurrencies, my combined portfolios are worth $‭5,601‬ ($513+ $2,693 +$2,395).

That’s up about +87% on the three combined portfolios, compared to +72% last month. 

Here’s a table to help visualize:

That’s an +87% gain by investing $1k on whichever cryptos happened to be in the Top Ten on January 1st for three straight years. 

But surely I would have done even better if I went all in on one crypto, right? 

Let’s take a look.  Only five cryptos have begun each of the last three years in the Top Ten: BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH, and LTC. Which one wins?

BTC FTW. Going all in on Bitcoin with $3,000 USD (dropped in $1k chunks every New Year’s Day since 2018) would have yielded +358%, turning that $3k into over $13,730.  ETH, the best performing of the Three Year Club last month, comes in second place at the end of 2020 (+310%). 

XRP, while still up in 2020, would have been the worst three year all-in bet, at -31%.  And at this point in the Experiments, the +87% gains of the Top Ten Index Fund approach is outperforming a hypothetical all-in investment in both XRP and BCH by a healthy margin.

I’m also tracking the S&P 500 as part of the experiment to have a comparison point with other popular investments options. The S&P 500 Index continued upward reaching yet another new all time high in December. It ended 2020 up +41% since January 2018. 

The initial $1k investment into crypto on January 1st, 2018 would have been worth about $1410 had it been redirected to the S&P.

But what if I took the same invest-$1,000-on-January-1st-of-each-year approach with the S&P 500 that I’ve been documenting through the Top Ten Crypto Experiments? Here are the numbers:

Taken together, here’s the bottom bottom bottom line for a similar approach with the S&P: 

After three $1,000 investments into an S&P 500 index fund in January 2018, 2019, and 2020, my portfolio would be worth $4,070.

That is up +36% since January 2018 compared to a +87% gain of the combined Top Ten Crypto Experiment Portfolios.  

You can compare against five individual coins (BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH, and LTC) by using the table above if you want.  The key takeaway? The S&P 500 is currently outperforming XRP and is returning about 5% more than Bitcoin Cash.  The ROI is much better with BTC, ETH, LTC and the 2018 Top Ten Portfolio approach.

Here’s a table summarizing the three year ROI comparison between a Top Ten Crypto approach and the S&P as per the rules of the Top Ten Experiments:

That’s seven monthly victories for the S&P vs. five monthly victories for crypto in 2020.  But the momentum is clearly on crypto’s side and the 51% gap is the largest of any point this year, even with stocks at all time highs.

Hard to believe I started tracking these cryptos three years ago.  With so much constantly happening almost hourly in the space, that’s like 100 years In crypto-time.  

The back end of 2020 turned out to be some of the most exciting months of the experiment so far, but sticking this out has not always been easy.  About half the time (16 months to be precise, just counted) the portfolio has been in the -80s% range.  Despite long periods of hopelessness, I would say it’s always been interesting – and has kept me engaged during both the bull and bear periods, as I hoped it would.

Although these cryptos may not be the most talked about anymore and I try my best to be impartial, I have to admit I have a soft spot for the original Top Ten from 2018.  Watching NEM attempt a comeback after being left for dead, IOTA failing (at least to this point) to deliver its tangled future, old timer Litecoin dropping out of the Top Ten…then catapulting back in, Stellar’s rise, fall, and rise…it’s been fun.

Some interesting questions remain:  will this 2018 Top Ten portfolio ever get back in the green?  If so, is it going to the rest in tow, or will some of the alts pitch in to contribute?  Which of these popular 2018 cryptos will truly be buried, which will resurface? Interesting days ahead.  I invite you to stick around and enjoy the journey with me.

Thanks for reading and for supporting the Top Ten Crypto Index Fund Experiments over the years! It’s been a blast interacting with everyone, especially beginners – feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

As for the future of the experiments?  Full steam ahead.   

All the best in your crypto adventures in 2021!

C) $3,800

On March 12, Bitcoin prices plunged to a 2020 low of $3,850, according to Coindesk.

Follow me on Twitter here:

Register now at Publish0x to claim your $$$. It only takes 15 seconds and it's free.

24-hour trading volume of  $19.6 billion.

Some altcoins showed a bullish breakout, such as Bitcoin SV and NEM. Compound appeared to show buyer dominance, after posting a steady decline in buying volume in recent weeks.

Bitcoin SV formed a symmetrical triangle after posting a local high at $215. Trading volume also decreased while the price was within the pattern.

The price broke out on good trading volume and climbed past resistance at $183, but was subsequently pushed down. However, BSV bulls may not be done yet.

The RSI showed bullish momentum with a reading of 59. It crossed above the neutral 50 line and despite the dip to $178, has not dropped back to 50. This showed a short-term uptrend was in progress.

XEM formed a symmetrical triangle with decreasing trading volume and broke out to the upside, confirming the continuation pattern.

Since the breakout from near $0.18, the MACD showed gathering momentum that saw the price soar to close a trading session at $0.265, representing gains of nearly 50%.

The price could be due for a pullback after the recent, strong gains and the MACD line was a distance away from the signal line and could correct lower in the coming hours.

A couple of weeks ago, the OBV showed a series of lower highs, while the price made higher highs. This bearish divergence eventually manifested itself with a COMP correction back toward $100.

The price was unable to climb back above $110 for a few more days, till early December saw a huge spike in buying volume for COMP, along with a surge from $106 to touch $140 in the span of a couple of days.

COMP saw a pullback to previous level of support at $125. The Stochastic RSI was correcting itself and would soon be in overbought region, and the OBV was climbing. This indicated that COMP was likely to test $140 resistance once more.

Litecoin long-term Price Analysis: 05 December

Bitcoin is yet to reach a top, here’s why

Having studied Chemical Engineering, Akashnath's focus is on the UK and Indian markets and especially crypto assets. He is devoted to technical analysis and is always on the lookout for investment opportunities.

Bitcoin SV, EOS, Aave Price Analysis: 08 December

Ethereum, NEM, FTX Token Price Analysis: 07 December

Bitcoin SV, Waves, Dogecoin Price Analysis: 07 December

Bitcoin SV, Monero, Algorand Price Analysis: 02 December

Monero, Polkadot, Compound Price Analysis: 30 November

Bitcoin SV long-term Price Analysis: 30 November